Many readers drawn into the heroic tales of J. R. R. Tolkien's imaginary world of Middle-earth have given little conscious thought to the importance of the land itself in his stories or to the vital roles played by the flora and fauna of that land. As a result, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion are rarely considered to be works of environmental literature or mentioned together with such authors as John Muir, Rachel Carson, or Aldo Leopold. Tolkien's works do not express an activist agenda; instead, his environmentalism is expressed in the form of literary fiction. Nonetheless, Tolkien's vision of nature is as passionate and has had as profound an influence on his readers as that of many contemporary environmental writers. The burgeoning field of agrarianism provides new insights into Tolkien's view of the natural world and environmental responsibility. In Ents, Elves, and Eriador, Matthew Dickerson and Jonathan Evans show how Tolkien anticipated some of the tenets of modern environmentalism in the imagined world of Middle-earth and the races with which it is peopled. The philosophical foundations that define Tolkien's environmentalism, as well as the practical outworking of these philosophies, are found throughout his work. Agrarianism is evident in the pastoral lifestyle and sustainable agriculture of the Hobbits, as they harmoniously cultivate the land for food and goods. The Elves practice aesthetic, sustainable horticulture as they shape their forest environs into an elaborate garden. To complete Tolkien's vision, the Ents of Fangorn Forest represent what Dickerson and Evans label feraculture, which seeks to preserve wilderness in its natural form. Unlike the Entwives, who are described as cultivating food in tame gardens, the Ents risk eventual extinction for their beliefs. These ecological philosophies reflect an aspect of Christian stewardship rooted in Tolkien's Catholic faith. Dickerson and Evans define it as "stewardship of the kind modeled by Gandalf," a stewardship that nurtures the land rather than exploiting its life-sustaining capacities to the point of exhaustion. Gandalfian stewardship is at odds with the forces of greed exemplified by Sauron and Saruman, who, with their lust for power, ruin the land they inhabit, serving as a dire warning of what comes to pass when stewardly care is corrupted or ignored. Dickerson and Evans examine Tolkien's major works as well as his lesser-known stories and essays, comparing his writing to that of the most important naturalists of the past century. A vital contribution to environmental literature and an essential addition to Tolkien scholarship, Ents, Elves, and Eriador offers both Tolkien fans and environmentalists an understanding of Middle-earth that has profound implications for environmental stewardship in the present and the future of our own world.

Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien (Culture Of The Land)

Literature & Fiction

Dickerson, Matthew T.

Evans,Jonathan

History & Criticism

University Press of Kentucky

Recounts the Battle of Finnsburg, the rivalry of Finn and Hildeburth, and the influence of Willimond, an early Christian monk, on the events in seventh century Friesland

The Finnsburg Encounter

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Crossway Books

Hammers & Nails: The Life and Music of Mark Heard

This is a book about the life and music of Mark Heard, a songwriter, musician, engineer, producer, and more generally an "erstwhile craftsman."

Cornerstone Press Chicago

Are humans just complex biochemical machines, mere physical parts of a causally closed materialist universe? Are we approaching the so-called "Singularity" when human consciousness can (and will) be downloaded into computers? Or is there more to the human person-something that might be known as soul or spirit? As this book makes clear, the answers to these questions have profound implications to topics such as heroism, creativity, ecology, and the possibility of reason and science. In exploring this important topic, Dickerson engages the ideas of some well-known twentieth- and twenty-first-century espousers of physicalism, including philosopher Daniel Dennett (Consciousness Explained), biologist Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), futurist-engineer Raymond Kurzweil (The Age of Spiritual Machines), psychologist B. F. Skinner (Beyond Freedom and Dignity), and mathematician-philosopher Bertrand Russell (Why I Am Not a Christian). Through a careful reading of their works, Dickerson not only provides a five-fold critique of physicalism, but also offers a Christian alternative in the form of "integrative dualism" which affirms the existence of both a physical and spiritual reality without diminishing the goodness or importance of either, and acknowledges that humans are spiritual as well as bodily persons.

The Mind and the Machine: What It Means to Be Human and Why It Matters

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Cascade Books

Are humans just complex biochemical machines, mere physical parts of a causally closed materialist universe? Are we approaching the so-called ""Singularity"" when human consciousness can (and will) be downloaded into computers? Or is there more to the human person--something that might be known as soul or spirit? As this book makes clear, the answers to these questions have profound implications to topics such as heroism, creativity, ecology, and the possibility of reason and science. In exploring this important topic, Dickerson engages the ideas of some well-known twentieth- and twenty-first-century espousers of physicalism, including philosopher Daniel Dennett (Consciousness Explained), biologist Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), futurist-engineer Raymond Kurzweil (The Age of Spiritual Machines), psychologist B. F. Skinner (Beyond Freedom and Dignity), and mathematician-philosopher Bertrand Russell (Why I Am Not a Christian). Through a careful reading of their works, Dickerson not only provides a five-fold critique of physicalism, but also offers a Christian alternative in the form of ""integrative dualism,"" which affirms the existence of both a physical and spiritual reality without diminishing the goodness or importance of either, and acknowledges that humans are spiritual as well as bodily persons. ""An engaging and probing exploration of some of the fundamental questions humans ask about themselves: Is a human being just a machine made out of protein? Are humans completely determined by the physical processes going on in their bodies? Is the belief that humans are spiritual just a vestige of prescientific thinking? Dickerson attacks these questions--and many others--with verve and elan. The book is a model of interdisciplinary inquiry, drawing on a deep understanding of contemporary philosophy, science, and computers."" --C. Stephen Evans, Baylor University ""[A] complex, thoughtful book."" --Publishers Weekly ""Dickerson deftly evaluates cutting-edge cultural implications of physicalist treatments of human persons. Refreshingly, he presents a specific dualist alternative and underscores the important entailments of that alternative. I am glad to recommend this wonderful book."" --J. P. Moreland, Biola University; author, The Recalcitrant Imago Dei ""Dickerson is one of the most gifted, clear-headed contemporary writers working on consciousness today. He has a command of the philosophical literature, a love for well-crafted, compelling arguments, and a matchless grasp of the deep wisdom that can be found in the work of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. His latest book is both an accessible introduction to central questions about human nature and a sustained, rigorous argument for recognizing the distinctive, overwhelming value of human persons."" --Charles Taliaferro, St. Olaf College; author, Consciousness and the Mind of God ""Whether human minds are machines is a central question not only for philosophers and scientists but also for the future of our culture and of the human race itself. This book is clearer, fairer, more helpful, and more reliable than 99 out of 100 others on the subject. Its author knows both halves of his book's title very well."" --Peter Kreeft, Boston College ""Dickerson is a thoughtful computer scientist exploring the presuppositions behind the notion that the human mind is nothing more than a complex machine. By pushing this idea to its logical conclusion, he shows the troubling implications for free will, creativity, environmental care, and reason. By contrasting this reductionistic approach with a view informed by the biblical story, Dickerson affirms a holistic view of what it means to be human. This is simply the best book I have found on this important topic--I highly recommend it!"" --Derek C. Schuurman, Professor of Computer Science, Redeemer University College; author of Shaping a Digital World: Faith, Culture and Computer Technology Matthew Dickerson is a professor at Middle

The Mind and the Machine

Wipf and Stock

Downstream: Reflections on Brook Trout, Fly Fishing, and the Waters of Appalachia is a mosaic combining nature writing, fly-fishing narrative, memoir, and philosophical and spiritual inquiry. Fly-fishing narratives and fragments of memoir provide the narrative arc for exploring relationships between humans and rivers, and the ways in which our attitudes and philosophies impact our practices and the waters we depend on for life. The authors guide their readers on a journey from Maine's Androscoggin watershed--once one of the ten filthiest rivers in the United States and now home to some of the best wild brook trout fishing in the United States--southward through Kentucky into Tennessee and North Carolina, where a native southern strain of brook trout struggles to survive. Like the rivers themselves, the chapters alternate between flowing narratives and the stiller waters that settle out above dams. While each stone in this mosaic is worth a close look in its own right, seen from a distance the book offers a broader picture of the cold mountain waters of Appalachia and their famous native fish: the brook trout. ""Downstream is an immersion (almost literally) in the streams and rivers of Appalachia in the company of two university professors, friends who through the years have developed both competence and knowledge in fly fishing. From its early pages I was riveted. Their language is exuberant but also disciplined. It didn't take me long to know that it would soon take its place on my bookshelf alongside John Muir and Henry David Thoreau. They are that good."" --Eugene H. Peterson, Regent College, Vancouver, BC, Canada ""O'Hara and Dickerson remind us that a fly fisher must think like a trout--then they lead us on a rugged and beautiful adventure through an ever-expanding 'riparian cosmos.' Downstream radiates out from Manitou's brookie into seamlessly shifting currents of ecology, philosophy, biology, personal history, engineering, natural history, theology, and management until we don't know where the human perspective begins and the brook trout's ends. They present a universe both stunning in its magnificence and terrifying in its fragility."" --Andrea Knutson, Oakland University, Rochester, MI ""O'Hara and Dickerson embark on an angler's quest for the fragile but resilient Appalachian brook trout, from the brawling rivers of Maine to tiny Smoky Mountain headwaters in Tennessee. But their journey reveals much more than that, about why we seek the places that trout live--the rivers and streams that allow us to know ourselves and find our way. This book is the vessel for a philosophy that celebrates nature, place, family, and home."" --Kurt D. Fausch, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO ""This book traces and enacts the intricacies of confluence within the Appalachian chain's fissured topography. Just as the rich terminology related to aquatic invertebrates, the life cycle of trout, and fly-tying gathers into a larger ecological, geological, and social vision, so too the distinctive voices of these two fine writers join in a moving dialogue on friendship and family, literature and the land."" --John Elder, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT David O'Hara is an Associate Professor of Philosophy and Classics, and directs the Philosophy program at Augustana College (South Dakota) where he teaches courses in environmental philosophy, ecology and deliberate living, and an annual course in tropical ecology in Guatemala and Belize. In addition to numerous book chapters, he has written for the Chronicle of Higher Education, Books and Culture, and Orion. Matthew Dickerson is a professor at Middlebury College (Vermont) where he has taught essay-writing courses on nature and ecology and on the literature of fishing. His other books include The Rood and the Torc (an historical novel), A Hobbit Journey (on the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien), and two other narratives about fly fishing, trout, and ecology: A Tale of T

Downstream

Religion & Spirituality

O'Hara, David L

Christian Books & Bibles

Disciple Making in a Culture of Power, Comfort, and Fear

Speaking in and to a culture that worships power and comfort while cultivating fear as a manipulative tool, Matthew Dickerson offers a transformative alternative: authentic discipleship and disciple making. What does it mean to live as disciples of Christ, what would it look like to be transformed by the Holy Spirit, and how can we be open to that transformation? How can a follower of Christ live as salt and light in the midst of a power-hungry fear-mongering society? And how can we both teach and model that disciple life as we obey Christ's command to make disciples? In the tradition of spiritual theology and formation, Disciple Making in a Culture of Power, Comfort, and Fear draws deeply from Paul's Second Epistle to Timothy--viewed as a reflection on Jesus' great disciple-making commission--as well as on Dickerson's own experiences in disciple-making ministry on college campuses and his local church. Dickerson's writing is deeply informed by Scriptures, by the works of such important Christian thinkers, theologians, and writers as Eugene Peterson, John Stott, and Richard Foster, and also by the literature of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien whose works he has been teaching and writing about for more than thirty years.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dickerson, Matthew T.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Dickerson, Matthew T.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dickerson, Matthew T.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien (Culture Of The Land)

The Finnsburg Encounter

Hammers & Nails: The Life and Music of Mark Heard

The Mind and the Machine: What It Means to Be Human and Why It Matters

The Mind and the Machine

Downstream

Disciple Making in a Culture of Power, Comfort, and Fear

Disciple Making in a Culture of Power, Comfort, and Fear